Rutan faces challenge to his Columbus City Council run

The Bartholomew County Election Board will be hearing a challenge Tuesday to City Council candidate Chris Rutan’s run for office.

However, on first blush it doesn’t appear that there is anything to remove him from the ballot.

A Columbus resident, William Tapscott, filed a complaint against Rutan’s candidacy citing concerns and accusations about financial details surrounding Rutan’s time as a rental property manager several years ago. He is seeking to void Rutan’s candidacy over character concerns.

However Jay Phelps, the county clerk, says that while the Election Board is required to hold a hearing, it does not appear that there is anything in the complaint that falls under the board’s jurisdiction.

The board is limited to consider issues such as whether a person is in good standing with their political party, whether they live in the correct district, or whether the candidate is a convicted felon.

And there is no indication that the issues outlined in the complaint have ever led to criminal charges, Phelps says.

Phelps says the last candidacy challenges locally came about 8 years ago over whether candidates were really Republicans.

Phelps makes up one third of the election board.

For his part, Rutan says that the complainant is a former friend and they had a falling out several years ago.

Rutan denies the charges made in the complaint.

Rutan believes he will be vindicated Tuesday.

Rutan is running in the Republican primary for City Council District 1 which represents parts of the downtown area and the former East Columbus. He is facing incumbent Republican Dascal Bunch in the May primary.

The election board meeting is open to the public. It will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the voter registration office at the courthouse.